Blog

ShareSoc Blog

This blog gives you the latest topical news plus some informal comments on them from ShareSoc’s directors and other contributors. These are the personal comments of the authors and not necessarily the considered views of ShareSoc. The writers may hold shares in the companies mentioned. You can add your own comments on the blog posts, but note that ShareSoc reserves the right to remove or edit comments where they are inappropriate or defamatory.

There is more news given in the News page of our web site and more analysis of news is provided in our monthly newsletter for members – see the Newsletters page.

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A Tale of Two Investment Trusts

The views expressed in this article are those of its author and not necessarily those of ShareSoc. Salutary Lessons for Directors and Shareholders of Trusts Investing in Alternative Assets  Usually, the role of non-executive director at an investment trust is a bit of a sinecure. Most investment trusts invest in stocks and bonds. Their portfolios are easy to value and there is little scope for misdeeds. Most such trusts publish their NAVs daily. The principal role for NEDs of such trusts is to ...

Ashtead Group plc Information and Vote Guidance 2023

AGM:  6 September 2023 Proxy deadline:  4 September 2023 ShareSoc provide this added value voting information service for Full Members only, providing background information on leading companies and AGM vote guidance. Below are links to the: 1. Stockopedia summary report. 2. Minerva Vote recommendations for the 6 September 2023 AGM based on their standard template. 3. Minerva detailed research report for the AGM. Summary of voting issues at this year’s AGM  The Minerva report highlights various issues and recommends voting against two of the resolutions. Readers should make their own ...

Widening retail participation in European equity markets

This article reflects the opinions of its author and not necessarily those of ShareSoc. A thematic summary of a recent event hosted by New Financial Retail participation in equity markets  Investing in public equity markets can be a great way for individuals to improve their long-term financial security. It can also help to democratize wealth creation, connect issuers to their owners, and connect the financial services industry with the people it exists to serve.  However, retail engagement in equity markets and retail investment has fallen ...

How to Format Posts in the ShareSoc and SIGnet Online Forums

Our online forums offer the capability of posting formatted content. However, it is not very clear how to format posts and how to include links and images.  We have now produced this video which shows users of our forums how to use the formatting tools that are available.  We hope that our members find this helpful. You need to be logged in to our website to make full use of our forums, which enable online discussions and posting of useful information and/or questions ...

Flint Interim Report: A Betrayal?

Background ShareSoc’s Shareholder Rights Campaign has been one of our longest running and most important campaigns. The reason it is so important is that current deficiencies in the rights of beneficial shareholders severely hamper our ability, and that of shareholder action groups generally, to hold company managements to account. This impacts the effectiveness of many of our other campaigns. Visit the campaign page for further details and further explanation of the issues. Since we launched the campaign in 2014, we have made considerable ...

Corporate Reporting and Audit Regulations

Further to our response to a BEIS consultation, the government has now published new draft regulations concerning corporate reporting, including measures that companies are taking to detect and prevent fraud.  The draft regulations are expected to be debated in parliament this autumn. If approved by Parliament, the Regulations will come into force on 1st January 2025.  The draft regulations implement the following four new reporting requirements for very large companies that were consulted on in the 2021 White Paper on ‘Restoring Trust in ...

SIGnet Launches new London Investor Group

SIGnet is excited to announce the launch of a new in-person, evening group, for members in the London area. You are invited: to an initial online meeting to explain more about the group, meet other investors, and confirm the details of the in-person group meetings. This launch meeting will be held on Zoom at 7pm on 30th August and is expected to last approximately 90 minutes. It is open to all investors with an interest in our new group, but you will ...

People want to attend AGMs in person, so we need to find a balance

This article reflects the opinions of its author, Cliff Weight, and not necessarily those of ShareSoc. We need to kickstart a system of connections for shareholders in our digital age Archie Norman’s opinion piece in the FT 14 July “The bond between British business and society has eroded -We need to kickstart a system of connections for shareholders in our digital age” (subscription required) has clarified his clarion call to modernise the Companies Act. This year, M&S experimented with a digital-only AGM and Archie recognises ...

VOD – Vodafone Group plc Information and Vote Guidance 2023

AGM:  25 July 2023 Proxy deadline:  21 July 2023   ShareSoc provide this added value voting information service for Full Members only, providing background information on leading companies and AGM vote guidance. Below are links to the: 1. Stockopedia summary report. 2. Minerva Vote recommendations for the 25 July 2023 AGM based on their standard template. 3. Minerva detailed research report for the AGM. Summary of voting issues at this year’s AGM  The Minerva report highlights various issues and recommends voting against four of the resolutions. Readers should make their own ...

ShareSoc 2023 AGM: resolutions passed

ShareSoc (UK Individual Shareholders Society), the not-for-profit membership organisation representing the rights of individual shareholders, is pleased to announce that all resolutions proposed to members at the AGM, held on 28th June, were duly passed.   The results are as follows:      For  Against   Abstain  Total  Resolution 1: To receive the Report and Accounts of the Board of Directors for the year ended 31st December 2022.  44  2  1  47  Resolution 2: To re-elect as a member of the Board Ms. Jema Janet Elspeth Mary Arnold (appointed 06/02/2023).  38  4  3  45  Resolution 3: To re-elect as a member ...
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